JAGUAR E-TYPE S1
Last time I mentioned that the latest part to be condemned was Boo’s ‘wrecked’ diff. I was rather proud of having one of the few E-types that never dripped oil, but that was probably because there wasn’t any in the diff in the first place. It is now back, looking like new – on the outside, at least. I can’t see what’s inside, but the specialist prefers to source good originals and machine them where necessary. Interestingly, the label was marked ‘3.8 E-type’. Boo is, of course, a 4.2 but has undergone a lot of work at various times so perhaps someone replaced it? Another theory is that Jaguar might have picked a 3.8 diff from the parts bin… Who knows?
Next for the scrutineering department were the rear hubs. With the suspension parts refurbished, the splined hubs were looking past their best. They can’t be economically repaired so Barry ordered a new pair for the rear end.
With the diff back and the suspension reassembled, Barry turned his attention to the replacement cylinder head. The previous (non-original) one had a hairline crack and signs of heat damage so we appropriated the decent one from the Jaguar 420 mouldering in my garage. With just 79,000 miles on it, Barry thought it looked pretty good and carted it off to his workshop, where it has been waiting patiently for him to get out his micrometer and do a spot of measuring. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised when he donned his ‘Bad News Barry’ hat to tell me that the cams and valve seats were worn and that the head would need rebuilding. However, it wasn’t all bad news because, like so many restorers, Barry knows the best people. It turned out to be Andrew Tart, formerly of Vicarage Jaguar and more recently of Classic Motor Cars. Since 2001 he has been working for himself at Andrew Tart Motor Engineering near Kidderminster, preparing historic racers to a very high standard.
The fact that Boo’s cylinder head has been entrusted to such a distinguished engineer simply underlines the lengths to which Barry is going to turn my ropey old workhorse of an E-type into something scarily like a decent car. He says Andrew has done a very nice job and what has come back is a brand-new cylinder head, with re-cut seats, lapped in by hand, two new cams, new shims, tappet buckets and valves. I haven’t yet seen it but the photos look very promising. With Andrew involved, maybe Boo will go faster!